CAT 2022 Slot 3 VARC Question & Solution
Passage
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Sociologists working in the Chicago School tradition have focused on how rapid or dramatic social change causes increases in crime. Just as Durkheim, Marx, Toennies, and other European sociologists thought that the rapid changes produced by industrialization and urbanization produced crime and disorder, so too did the Chicago School theorists. The location of the University of Chicago provided an excellent opportunity for Park, Burgess, and McKenzie to study the social ecology of the city. Shaw and McKay found . . . that areas of the city characterized by high levels of social disorganization had higher rates of crime and delinquency.
In the 1920s and 1930s Chicago, like many American cities, experienced considerable immigration. Rapid population growth is a disorganizing influence, but growth resulting from in-migration of very different people is particularly disruptive. Chicago’s in-migrants were both native-born whites and blacks from rural areas and small towns, and foreign immigrants. The heavy industry of cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Pittsburgh drew those seeking opportunities and new lives. Farmers and villagers from America’s hinterland, like their European cousins of whom Durkheim wrote, moved in large numbers into cities. At the start of the twentieth century, Americans were predominately a rural population, but by the century’s mid-point, most lived in urban areas. The social lives of these migrants, as well as those already living in the cities they moved to, were disrupted by the differences between urban and rural life. According to social disorganization theory, until the social ecology of the ‘‘new place’’ can adapt, this rapid change is a criminogenic influence. But most rural migrants, and even many of the foreign immigrants to the city, looked like and eventually spoke the same language as the natives of the cities into which they moved. These similarities allowed for more rapid social integration for these migrants than was the case for African Americans and most foreign immigrants.
In these same decades, America experienced what has been called ‘‘the great migration’’: the massive movement of African Americans out of the rural South and into northern (and some southern) cities. The scale of this migration is one of the most dramatic in human history. These migrants, unlike their white counterparts, were not integrated into the cities they now called home. In fact, most American cities at the end of the twentieth century were characterized by high levels of racial residential segregation . . . Failure to integrate these immigrants, coupled with other forces of social disorganization such as crowding, poverty, and illness, caused crime rates to climb in the cities, particularly in the segregated wards and neighbourhoods where the migrants were forced to live.
Foreign immigrants during this period did not look as dramatically different from the rest of the population as blacks did, but the migrants from eastern and southern Europe who came to American cities did not speak English, and were frequently Catholic, while the native born were mostly Protestant. The combination of rapid population growth with the diversity of those moving into the cities created what the Chicago School sociologists called social disorganization.
Question 1
Which one of the following sets of words/phrases best encapsulates the issues discussed in the passage?
Solution:
The passage starts by stating about the sociologists working in the Chicago school tradition on the causality between social disorganization and crime. Then the author describes the immigration experienced in American cities in the 1920s and 1930s. The author then gives the reason why this led to an increase in crime rates(some examples being failure to integrate these immigrants, coupled with other forces of social disorganization, such as crowding, poverty, and illness, caused crime rates to climb in the cities, particularly in the segregated wards and neighborhoods where the migrants were forced to live.)
Both options A and C should be eliminated because, in these options, the words social disorganization/ organization or crimes are missing. Compared with D, B is better because the term heavy industry is not a keyword of the passage. Also, more than population growth, migration is the primary reason behind social disorganization.
Thus, the correct option is B.
Question 2
A fundamental conclusion by the author is that:
Solution:
The above passage is a case study of how rapid or dramatic social change causes relate to increasing crime growth in Chicago. The passage focus on the effects of social disorganization on crime in Chicago.
Option A: There is no comparison of crime in Chicago with that of crime in other states. Thus, this is not the correct answer.
Option B: The passage focus on the effects of social disorganization on crime in Chicago. It is not specific only to the racial aspect. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Option C: This is a distortion of the passage's main idea. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Option D: This option aptly describes the main conclusion of the passage and hence, is the correct option.
The correct option is D.
Question 3
Which one of the following is not a valid inference from the passage?
Solution:
"Failure to integrate these immigrants, coupled with other forces of social disorganization such as crowding, poverty, and illness, caused crime rates to climb in the cities, particularly in the segregated wards and neighborhoods where the migrants were forced to live."
From the above excerpt of the penultimate paragraph of the passage, it can be inferred that poverty and the rise in disorganization contributed to the increase in crime in American cities. Thus, option A is a valid inference and hence can be eliminated.
"The social lives of these migrants, as well as those already living in cities they moved to, were disrupted by the differences between urban and rural life . According to social disorganization theory, until the social ecology of the ‘‘new place’’ can adapt, this rapid change is a criminogenic influence."
From the above excerpt of the second passage, it can be inferred that the difference between urban and rural life contributed to the disruption experienced by the migrants. Also, this rapid change contributes to the rise in crime in these cities. Thus, options C and D are also valid and hence cannot be the answer.
"These migrants, unlike their white counterparts, were not integrated into the cities they now called home. In fact, most American cities at the end of the twentieth century was characterized by high levels of racial residential segregation."
Although the African American migrants faced a high level of racial segregation, it is nowhere mentioned that it was because they were less organised. Thus, option B is not true in the scope of the passage and hence is the correct option.
Thus, the correct option is B.
Question 4
The author notes that, “At the start of the twentieth century, Americans were predominately a rural population, but by the century’s mid-point most lived in urban areas.” Which one of the following statements, if true, does not contradict this statement?
Solution:
Option A: If the workforce size is the largest in the rural area throughout the twenty-first century, then it directly contradicts the theory of the migration of most of the population from rural areas to urban areas. The sample space of the workforce population does not tally with this theory of migration. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Option B: If this population census of 1952 is accurate, it directly nullifies the above migration theory. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Option C: If the data for the estimation of per capita income in the mid-twentieth century primarily required data from the rural areas, then it is not possible that the majority of the population lives in the urban areas. Thus, this is not the correct option.
Option D: If this option is true, it will strengthen the theory of the intermigration of people from rural to urban areas. Thus, this is the correct option.
Thus, the correct option is D.